JOSEPH HILLS 



AND THE 



MASSACHUSETTS LAWS OF 1648 



REPRINTED FROM THE 



HISTORY OF MALDEN, MASS. 



1633-1785 



BY 



DELORAINE P. COREY 



BOSTON 

WILLIAM SANFORD HILLS 

i'oc IptilJatP distribution 

1890 







Glass Fb^ 

Book- 'H L>S 



/ 
JOSEPH HILLS 



AND THE 



MASSACHUSETTS LAWS OF 1648 



REPRINTED FROM THE 



HISTORY OF MALDEN, MASS. 

1 633-1 785 -^it 



BY 

DELORAINE P. COREY 

II 



BOSTON 

WILLIAM SANFORD HILLS 

Jfor priliatc ©Mtribution 

1899 



7^HE chapter which is here reprinted, by permission, 
relates a single incident i^i the nseftil and honorable 
life of Joseph Hills. His activity and influence 
brought him into constant notice in the early days of the 
town of which he was a principal founder. His life 
will be fou7id iii detail in the volume mentioned below. 



THE HISTORY OF MALDEN 
MASSACHUSETTS - 1633-1785 

Now ready in one volume, 8vo. Cloth, uncut, 
gilt tops, pp. xvii, 870. Illustrated by views of 
old houses, facsimiles, etc., including Tufts's 
plan of Maiden, 1795. Price, $6.co, postage or 
expressage not included. 29831. 



This volume covers the history of Malden, Melrose, and Everett, 
comprising the old town of Maiden, from the first visit of white men 
to the close of the Revolution. The origin and progress of the town, 
and its civil, military, and ecclesiastical affairs, are traced from public 
and private records, widely scattered documents, and family traditions. 
The material thus gathered has been carefully weighed and compared ; 
and no labor has been spared to make the result authoritative. 

Especial attention has been given to the soldiers of Philip's Jf'ar, the 
French wars, and the Revolution ; and each 7nan's service, prepared 
after a long and diligent research, is presented in detail. 

The volume will be forwarded, by express or other safe con- 
veyance, on receipt of the price by check, current in Boston 
or New York, or U. S. money order on Maiden or Boston. 



Address, D. P. COREY 

2 Berkeley Street, Mai.den, Mass. 








CHAPTER VI. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 



OF the early settlers of Maiden, two men, above all others, 
filled prominent positions in the local affairs of the town 
and took no mean part in the civil and religious concerns of 
the Colony. Closely united by family ties, they were no less in- 
timate in their public lives ; and the stories of their careers 
will be found to have much in common, both in what they 
performed and in the honors which they received. They 
earliest bore the responsibilities and honors of the highest 
offices in the gift of their fellows ; and for a period of thirty- 
four years, from the incorporation of the town until the elder 
had removed and the younger had been stricken with blindness, 
they were the only representatives of the town at the General 
Court — the Congress of the young Colony. Each in his time 
was Speaker of the House of Deputies, an office which no other 
citizen of Maiden has taken to the present time. Both are 



1 66 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

nearly forgotten in the town where their busy Hves were passed, 
and which owes them much for what they did in its earHer days. 
Nothing remains of one, save the memory of the old town well 
at the corner of Main and Salem Streets, — Joseph Hills's well. 
Of the younger, we have a thick old English slatestone in the 
" burying place near Sandy Bank," and an ever present memo- 
rial in the sturdy form and honest name of Wayte's Mount. 

Joseph Hills was an inhabitant of Maldon, a town in the 
county of Essex in England, where, with his wife Rose, he lived, 
it is said, as " a woollen draper, having large transactions at 
London." ^ Whatever his calling may have been at that time, 
his apparent skill in legal matters and his career in New Eng- 
land justify the assertion that if he was not a lawyer by pro- 
fession he was so by his tendencies and habits and perhaps by 
education. We have his own testimony, given in 1639, in 
which, calling himself " of Charlestowne in New England, 
Woollen-draper, aged about 36 yeares," he tells of the transpor- 
tation of goods from Maldon to London " in an Jpsw*^'' Hye," 
which he cleared at the custom house " in the ship called the 
Susan & Ellen of London, whereof was Master M]' Edward 
Payne," in which he arrived in Massachusetts Bay, July 17, 
1638.2 

About the same time, or perhaps with him, came John Wayte, 
a son of Samuel Wayte of Wethersfield, a town about eighteen 
miles from Maldon. His mother, Mary, was an aunt, or a 

1 Savage, Genealogical Dictionary, ii. friendship or of sisterhood in the church. 

417. The statement in Coffin, History Still, I think that the words as twice 

of Newbury, 393, that he was from used and the provisions of the will im- 

Shrewsbury, although, perhaps, tradi- ply a relationship ; and I venture to 

tionary, is an evident error. Savage's suggest that Elizabeth, the second wife 

supposition that Rose Hills was a sister of Henry Dunster and the mother of 

of President Dunster has been accepted his children, was a sister of Helen 

as a genealogical fact by most writers; Atkinson. The will may be found in 

but there was no ground for the suppo- Chaplin, Life of Henry Dunster, 303- 

sition at first. Dunster's will, which was 30S. 

written in 1658, mentions "my sister - Lechford, AW^-jS'wZ', 91. Mr. Hills 

Mrs. Hills of Maul don," and appoints appears to have been received as a 

Joseph Hills an overseer. If the Mrs. person of some importance among the 

Hills of that date was his sister, it was new comers ; as thirteen days after his 

not Rose, who had been dead eight arrival, he was admitted as a townsman 

years. The living wife was Helen, or and received the grant of land at Mystic 

Eleanor, Atkinson ; and the title may Side which is elsewhere noticed, 
have been used as a recognition of 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 



167 



sister,'^ of the celebrated Rev. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, 
whose Simple Coblcr of Aggavvam in America dsi6. his services 
in compiling the Body of Liberties have given him an undying 
name among the fathers of New England. John Wayte, who 
was in 1638 about twenty years of age, soon married, if he had 
not already done so in England, Mary, the young daughter of 
Joseph Hills, and following into the forests of Mystic Side he 
seated himself near his father-in-law, on the south-west side of 
Mount Prospect, which took from him its later names of Cap- 
tain's Hill and Wayte's Mount.^ 

The coming of Joseph Hills as an undertaker in the ship 
which brought him to New England gave him, perhaps, some 
distinction over humbler adventurers ; and his abilities soon 
brought him into notice and employment. He was received 



3 Probably a sister. For the infor- 
mation compiled from the Candler and 
Tanner manuscripts in the British Mu- 
seum and Bodleian Library see the pedi- 
grees in Dean, Alemoir of the Rev. 
Nathaniel Ward, 129, and N. E. Hist, 
and Getieal. Register, xli. 2S2. 

* John Wayte had received a grant 
of eight acres in the vicinity of Wayte's 
Mount from the town of Charlestown 
in 1647. In 1654 he bought of John 
Coggan, who had married the widow 
Coytmore after the death of her second 
husband, Governor John Winthrop, sev- 
eral parcels of the Coytmore land, one 
of which was bounded on the west by 
the brook " below the falls and by the 
Pond above the falls," and on the east, 
by the common and other land of John 
Wayte. Over this land ran " a cart way 
of Two rods wide from the falls streight 
forth into the Country way;" in which 
may be found the origin of an old way 
over which Mountain Avenue now passes 
from Main Street to the brook or, more 
likely, that of the way long known as 
Barrett's or Dye House Lane and now 
as Barrett Street. In this parcel was 
included Mount Prospect, which was to 
be defended against " the Towne of 
Mauldon wch is vallued at five pounds." 
Midd. Co. Deeds, ii. 18. 

The house, which he built and where 
he died, stood on the easterly side of 



Main Street, north of Mountain Avenue, 
on land which, in 1SS5, was owned by 
the heirs of Otis Tufts. Atlas of Mai- 
den, 1SS5, plate xvi. On this site, in a 
house which probably contained a por- 
tion of the old building, if it was not 
that structure itself, died in 1797 Edward 
Newhall, to whom it had come by an 
unbroken descent in the fifth genera- 
tion. It was afterwards owned and 
occupied by the late Joseph Warren 
Tufts. 

In the division of the estate of Cap- 
tain John Wayte, his house and lands 
near Wayte's Mount became possessed 
by his third son, vSamuel ; and, at the 
death of the latter in 1720, they passed 
to his younger children, Edward and 
Jabez. Edward retained the old house 
and land east of the Reading road, 
which passed at his death to the New- 
hall family. Jabez took his share in 
the westerly land and built the house 
which recently stood at the corner of 
Main and Clifton Streets. This house, 
occupied successively by the son and 
grandson of its builder, was known 
from them as the Micah or Peter Waite 
house. In its later days, it passed 
through the descending conditions of 
dilapidation and ruin, until at last, no 
longer habitable, it was burned, October 
10, 1S93. 



1 68 



HISTORY OF MALDEN. 



into the church of Charlestown, with his wife, soon after his 
arrival ; and, although he was not admitted as a freeman until 
1645, he was chosen a selectman of the town in 1644. Al- 
though he appears in the Book of Posses- 
sions as the owner of a house " in the 
middle row," near the market place, it is 
probable that he soon removed to the land which was granted 
him at Mystic Side.^ He represented the town of Charlestown 
in the House of Deputies during the years 1646 and 1647, ^"^ 
was chosen Speaker in the latter year. It was during these 




^ The grant of land to Joseph Hills 
and his early purchase of the twenty 
acres of Thomas Ruck and a portion 
of the lot of Thomas Coytmore have 
been elsewhere noticed. The land em- 
braced in these parcels lay on each side 
of the Salem Path, and was described, 
in 1638, as woodland. That on the 
northern side extended from the way 
now known as Main Street to the rocks 
at Faulkner. On the southern side, it 
began at the present easterly line of the 
High School land and ran to the swamp 
which began at the ancient path now 
called Cross Street. Southerly, it was 
bounded by Pemljerton's Brook ; but, 
later, Mr. Hills became possessed of all 
the land south of the brook and north 
of Cross Street to its junction with 
Ferry Street. 

Whether Coytmore had built upon 
his land at the present corner of Salem 
and Main Streets and dug the well, 
which for nearly two centuries and a 
half yielded its cooling waters for the 
use of man and beast is unknown ; but 
there is reason for believing that Joseph 
Hills was in the enjoyment of both 
house and well as early as 1650. To 
this house he refers late in life as his 
"lesser house and ground," he having 
built another house upon the Salem 
Path near the present Sprague Street, 
to which he may have removed and 
which he sold in 16S1, with sixty acres 
of land, to Thomas Newhall of Lynn, 
who had married his granddaughter, 
Rebecca Green. This farm was bounded 
on the north by Mount Prospect, or 



Wayte's Mount, and on the south by 
the water course, or Pemberton's Brook. 
Thomas Newhall removed to Maiden 
and became the ancestor of that branch 
of the Newhall family which still re- 
mains here. 

Two years before the sale to Thomas 
Newhall, Joseph Hills had sold to 
Joseph Wilson, for eighty-five pounds, 
the house, with eight acres of land, at 
the corner of the Salem and Reading 
roads. Wilson was a blacksmith ; and 
his shop was one of the public places 
of the town where notices were posted. 
It may have been upon the westerly side 
of Main Street, as tradition says that 
the rubbish of a forge was found there 
while excavating many years ago. To 
the land bought of Joseph Hills, Wilson 
added, in 1699, six acres of the Wayte 
land, which gave him a strip of fourteen 
acres from the Salem road to Wayte's 
Mount. This land, with other lots in 
various parts of the town, he owned at 
the time of his death in 1705. 

After the death of their father, John, 
in 1741, Elizabeth and Tabitha Wilson, 
sjjinsters and granddaughters of Joseph 
Wilson, were joint owners and occu- 
pants of the house. Tabitha married 
Benjamin Parker in 176S; and nine 
years later, Elizabeth, at the age of 
sixty-five years, became the third wife 
of James Kettell, who is variously styled 
baker, tavern-keeper, deputy-sheriff, and 
jail-keeper. It was he who transformed 
the house of Joseph Hills into a tavern, 
the succeeding history of which will be 
considered in its place. Vide, chap. xix. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 69 

years that he became " active for to bring the Lavves of the 
County in order," ^ This service, which was fully recognized 
at the time, was forgotten in the course of years. In 1867 
the honors which he had earned by a series of faithful labors 
were appropriated for another; and Edward Johnson, of 
Woburn, the author of the Wonder-working Providence of 
Sions Saviour, passed into written history as the compiler of 
the Massachusetts Laws of 1648." This error, originating in 
a work of importance and ability, has been repeated by later 
writers with an air of authority, which might effectually stifle 
all doubts were not the records extant in which the whole story 
is clearly related. 

The able editor of the Wonder-working Providence gives his 
author a prominent part in the labor and honor of the compila- 
tion of the Laws, although he does not claim that he was the 
chief compiler. He declares, however, that, " when Captain 
Johnson was on the committee, then, and only then, efficient 
progress was made in the work." That Mr. Poole had over- 
looked a more important person than Lieutenant Johnson was 
promptly shown by a writer in the Historical Magazine^ and 
soon after by the present writer in the Maiden Messenger? 
What the latter, with its limited local circulation, did not 
accomplish, the former, then the leading historical publi- 
cation in America, also failed to effect; and the truth in 
relation to the real compiler remained comparatively un- 
known. Nine years later the claim of Edward Johnson was 
reasserted in a report of the Council of the American Anti- 
quarian Society,^*^ with an appearance of certain knowledge 
which can hardly fail to ensnare the unwary reader; but it re- 
mained for a writer in the Winchester Record to perfect the 
work. 

After a reference to a strife which he assumes took place 
between the magistrates and the deputies over the laws, the 
latter writer says : — 

^ Johnson, Woiidcr-worJdng Provi- ** '^Yoox^m. Historical IlTagazhie.xmZ'^. 

deuce, no. 9 Maiden Messenger, May 16, 1 868. 

"^ Poole, Introduction to Wonder- ^"^ American Antiq. So. Proc, April, 

working Providence, ciii. et seq. 1877, 29, 30. 



I/O HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

Committee after committee had been appointed, whose work was 
frustrated, until Captain Johnson was put upon such a committee in 
1648, when the work was speedily done. He devotes a chapter in his 
book to exultation that the thing so long desired was at length accom- 
plished, yet he does not speak of what every one else kneiu, his own 
agency in the matter.-'^ 

Considering the insufficiency of the foundation of the claim 
in its original form, this exaggerated statement is an eminent 
example of how theories, growing by transmission, appear at 
last as facts and take the place of authentic history in the minds 
of those who write without investigation. 

The three writers here considered intimate that the work of 
the committees was purposely delayed or their purposes frus- 
trated, except when Johnson was present. A more eminent 
authority, writing in i860, says: — 

There is no reason to suppose that they who now had the business 
in charge desired to frustrate it ; but it was not of a nature to be, at 
the same time, well and hastily done.^- 

Referring to the late Francis Calley Gray, whose well-known 
article is still the best that has been written on the early history 
of our laws,^^ it is said that " it is remarkable that Mr. Gray 
should have failed to connect Johnson with the original publi- 
cation of these laws." ^^ Mr. Gray's article is clear in its state- 
ment of facts and polished in their presentation. It is the work 
of a scholar and careful investigator; and it would have been 
remarkable had its author anticipated the later error and given 
Edward Johnson a place to which he had no right. He did 
mention, in several extracts from the Colony Records, the name 
of "the leading man; " and Johnson, himself, speaks of Joseph 
Hills as " active for to bring the Lawes of the County in 
order." ^^ 

The facts which Mr. Gray did not recognize as important, 
and on which is based the undeserved distinction of Lieutenant 
Johnson, are that he was a member of the committee at times ; 

11 Winchesier Record, i. 45, 46. ^^ American Aniiq. So. Proc, April, 

12 Palfrey, History of lYcw Enghuid, i^'JT, 30. 

ii. 261. ^^ Wonder-zuorking rnn'idcnce, \10. 

13 ISIass. Hist. Coll., xxviii. 191. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 17 1 

that, in 1648, he was "pressed w'^ many urgent occasions; " and 
that he mentioned with apparent pleasure the completion of the 
laws. Not a very firm foundation is this on which to build the 
reputation of " a wise and energetic legislator." 

It is not the purpose of this chapter to tarnish the merited 
fame of Edward Johnson but to restore to one who deserves 
them the honors which time has obscured. 

In the year 1641 the Colony of Massachusetts Bay adopted 
for a trial of three years the first code of laws in New England. 
This was the famous Liberties of the MassacJuiscts Colonie in 
New England, better known as the Body of Liberties, of Na- 
thaniel Ward, which, after remaining in manuscript two hundred 
years, was found by the late Francis C. Gray and printed in 
1843.^^ These laws being proved by experience during the 
allotted period, the necessity of the establishment of a perma- 
nent code, in which the fundamental laws that Ward had pre- 
sented should be revised and enlarged, became apparent. 
Several orders, anticipating such a work, had been passed since 
the presentation of the Liberties. It has been said that little 
was accomplished under these orders by " the Magistrates, who 
did nothing, and whose interest was to do nothing;"^" but I 
infer that the magistrates wisely desired to test the code by its 
operations and a careful consideration, as its tentative adop- 
tion allowed, rather than to hazard the permanent acceptance 
of laws which might be adverse to the interests of the Colony 
and unsuited to the temper and habits of the people. When 
the appointed time was fully expired, the following order was 
passed. 

ri645: 1 Itt is ordered, y' seuerall p''sons out of each county shall 
be chosen to dravve vp a body of lawes, & p''sent them to 
y" consideration of y" Genna'all Cou'te, at their next sitting.^^ 

Under this order, committees of six persons from each of the 
three counties of the Colony were appointed. At the next 
session of the Court, in October, some changes were made in 
the formation of these committees, and they were desired 

^^ Mass. Hist. Coll., xxviii. 216, et scq. ^** Mass. Colony Records, iii. 26. 

^^ Introduction to Wondcr-zvorkiiig Prozndence, ciii. 



172 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

To appoint their owne meetings for the accomplishment of the end 
so desired, & to make their returne of what they shall do herein to the 
next siting of y" Generall Court. ■'^ 

The committee from Middlesex was composed of Herbeht 
Pelham of Cambridge, Increase Newell of Charlestown, the 
Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge, the Rev. John Knowles 
of Watertown, Joseph Hills of Charlestown, and Lieutenant 
Edward Johnson of Woburn. It is worthy of notice, as an evi- 
dence of some peculiar fitness in the person chosen, that while 
the committees, except in this instance, consisted of magistrates, 
ministers, and deputies, Joseph Hills, who was neither, was 
placed upon the Middlesex commission. He was not appointed 
upon the commission as it was first constituted ; but upon the 
resignation of Captain George Cooke of Cambridge, who was 
Speaker of the House that year, he was put ^° " in Capt. Cookes 
roome, at his request." Johnson and Knowles appear to have 
taken no part in the deliberations of the Middlesex committee.^^ 

It does not appear that the work of the committees, which 
was simply preparatory, was not fully and promptly performed ; 
and there is reason for believing that a code drawn by Joseph 
Hills from the statutes of England and other sources was ac- 
cepted by the Middlesex committee as the result of their labors, 
which, with the reports of the other committees, was before the 
General Court at the session in May, 1646. The book of Mr. 
Hills was afterwards lost; and "although it were in harvest 
time," he made another copy for the use of the committee which 
was appointed by the Court in the following order. 

[May 6, 1646.] This Cou'te thankefully accep*'^ y" labo'''' of y^ seu- 
e^all committees of y" seuerall shieres as they are retou''ned by them, & 
being very vnwilling y' such p''etious labo'^s should fall to y*^ ground 
\v"'out y' good successe as is genne^ally hoped for, have though' it 
meete to desier Richard Eellinghm, Esq"", & Left Duncan, M' Nowell & 
Lef ' Johnson, M"' Symonds & M' Warde, to cawse each committees re- 
tou^ne about a body of lawes to be transcribed, so as each committee 

19 RIass. Colony Records, ii. 128. working-man," Edward Johnson, is 

20 Ibid. claimed to have been most serviceable. 
-1 This is to be noted, as it was in Vide Introduction to Wonder-working 

the labors of this committee that " the Providence, ciii. civ. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 73 

have the sight of y*^ othe''s labo''s ; & y' y" p''sons mentioned in this o''der 
be pleased to meete together at or before the tenth of August next, 
at Salem or Ipswich, & on y*" p''vsing & examining y'^ whole labor^ of 
all the committees w"' y" abreviation of y^ lawes in force, w"'' M' Bel- 
linghm tooke great store of paynes, & to good pu''pose, in & vpon 
y^ whole doe make retourne to y" next session of y^ Courte at w"'' time 
y^ Courte entends, by y*" favo' & blessing of God, to p''ceed to y^ estab- 
lishing of so many of them as shallbe thought most fitt for a body 
of lawes amongst vs.^^ 

There was not a great advance in the work during the months 
which intervened between this and the succeeding session of the 
Court. There were the codes of the shire committees to be 
brought into unity and to be compared with the existing laws; 
and the lost compilation of Mr. Hills was to be restored. 
There were also other affairs which could not be passed by; 
and it was not strange that the committee could not present a 
completed code at the appointed time. That they did not is 
evident from the action of the Court, although, misled by con- 
fidence in Lieutenant Johnson's presence, it is said that " the 
committee completed their labors." ^'^ In the order of the 
Court thereupon, the failure of the committee to perfect its 
work is recognized. There is no indication of dissatisfaction 
at the result nor is a censure implied in the action which was 
taken ; but a full sense of the importance of the labor and the 
necessity of care in its performance is expressed. It may be 
observed that Mr. Hills, whose labor had forwarded the work, 
was now given a place, by name, upon the committee and that 
Lieutenant Johnson was not reappointed. 

[November 4, 1646.] The Co'te, being deeply sensible of y"" ear- 
nest expectation of the country in gen'all for this Co'ts compleating of 
a body of lawes for y'^ betf & more ord'ly weilding all y'' affaires of this 
common wealth, wiling also to their utmost to answere their honest & 
harty desires therein, unexpectedly p'vented by multitude of oth'' press- 
ing occasions, thinke fit & necessary y^ this Co''te make choyce of two 
or three of o' honored magistrats, w''' as many of y*" deputies, to p'use, 
examine, compare, transcribe, correct, & compose in good order all y*" 
liberties, lawes, & orders extant w"' us, & furth"' to p''use & p'fect all such 

^'■^ Mass. Colony Records, iii. 74, 75. 23 Introduction to Wonder -working 

Providence, ciii. 



1/4 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

oth's as are drawne up, & to p'sent such of them as they find necessary 
for us, as also to suggest what they deeme needful to be aded, as also 
to consider & contriue some good methode & order, titles, & tables for 
compiling y" whole, so as we may have ready recourse to any of them 
upon all occasions, whereby we may manifest o'' utf disaffection, to 
arbitrary governV, & so all relations be safely & sweetly directed & 
p'fected in all their iust rights & priviledges, desireing thereby to make 
way for printing o' lawes for more publike & p''fitable use of us & o' 
successo''s. C hqno''ed Gov'^n'', M' Bellingham, M"" Hibbens, M' Hill, & 
M"" Duncan, as a committee for y*" busines above mentioned, or any 
three of them meeting, y" oth' haveing notice thereof, shalbe sufficient 
to carry on y*^ worke.^* 

There is no evidence that the work of compilation and com- 
parison was not diligently followed, although the writer before 
quoted sees that, as the " working man " had been removed, 
"little or nothing was done."^^ Care and deliberation, no 
doubt, retarded a labor which it would have been unwise to 
hurry or imperfectly perform. At the next Court, the inade- 
quacy of the time was admitted ; but it is apparent that the new 
code was so far advanced that a limit could be placed for its 
completion. Lieutenant Johnson was now restored to the 
committee. 

[May 26, 1647.] The Co'te, und'standing y' y'' committee for 
pTecting y"" lawes appointed by y" last Gen'all Co'te, through streights of 
time & oth'' things intervening, have not attained what they expected, & 
on all hands so much desired, touching a body of lawes, thinke meete 
& necessary y' o"^ honored Gov^n"", M' Bellingham, M' Hibbens, y*" Audi- 
to"' Gen''all, Leift Johnson, & M'' Hills be chosen as a committee of this 
Co'te to do y" same, according to y*" aforesaid ord', against y*" next ses- 
sions in y" 8"' m°. or y*" next Gen''all Co'te.^^ 

The connection of Lieutenant Johnson with the committee 
may not have delayed its action. There is no evidence that it 
hastened what was already near completion. The work of the 
committee at large now appears to have been one of criticism or 
approval. The weightier labor of preparation and arrangement 
had been left to Mr. Hills; and that it had been left in careful 
and skilful hands the code of 1648, as it has been preserved in 

^■i Mass. Colony Records, ii. i6S, 169. "^^ Mass. Colony Records, ii. 196. 

25 Introduclion to Wonder-working Providence, civ. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 75 

that of 1660, bears ample proofs. At the next session of the 
Court the results were evident. " Five Books or Rowls," pre- 
pared by Joseph Hills, were presented and the transcription of 
a perfect copy for the press was authorized. This action was 
taken in two orders, the latter of which was passed towards the 
close of the session. Edward Johnson, whose presence upon 
the committee had been intermittent, was again dropped and 
appeared no more in connection with the compilation of the 
early laws.^'^ 

[November 11, 1647.] The lawes being to be put in print, it is 
meete y' they should be conveniently penned ; y'^fore it is desired y' y^ 
committee for drawing up y" lawes wilbe carefuU y'in, & to y' purpose 
they have lib''ty to make some change of forme, to put in apt words, as 
occasion shall require, pVided y"" sence & meaning in any law, or p''t 
thereof be not changed.^^ 

[November 11, 1647.] The lawes now being in a mann"" agreed 
upon, & y*^ Co''te drawing to an end, it is time to take ord' : i. How 
all alfations of form'' lawes may be, w'^out mistaking, compared & fair 
written; 2. Y' all ould lawes not altered be also written in y" same 
coppy ; 3. Y^ y"' be a committee chosen for y'' busines, to be made ready 
ag" y^ first day of y*" first m° next, so as y*^ Co''te of Assistants, if they see 
cause, may advise for a Gen''all Co'te, to p'pare y™ for y*" presse. 

4. Y' y"' be larg margents left at both sides of y^ leafe, & y^ heads of 
each law written on y*^ two outsides y''of, & upon y*^ oth"" margent any 
references, scriptures, or y*^ like; 5. Y' these be written coppy wise. 
The GoVn', W Bellingham, M'' Hill, M'' Auditor, & W Ting are ioyned 
in y*" committee, to act according as in y^ pap"' is expressed.-^ 

The new code, being completed and approved, although there 
is no record of its formal acceptance, was now in the hands of 
the committee for its final examination. Two copies were made 
for the press, one, perhaps, by Mr. Hills himself, the other, cer- 
tainly, by his son-in-law, John Wayte. The following orders 

2^ "[March, 164^^.] Leift Johnson, his biographer. "It is highly probable 

upon his request, (being pressed vv'^ that he was wholly absorbed during the 

many urgent occasions,) is dismised spring, summer, and fall in revising and 

fro"' any furth"^ attendance on y^ service printing the Massachusetts Laws of 

of y^ Coi'te." Mass. Colony Records, ii. 1648." Introduction to Wonde7--iuo7king 

231. This extract is of little interest. Providence, cv., cvi. 

except that it may be noted as forming ^^ Mass. Colony Records, ii. 209. 

the corner stone of the Johnson theory. 29 Ibid., 217, 218. 
" What was this urgent business ? " asks 



1/6 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

contain the action of the Court concerning the two copies; and 
it was by the authority of the second order that the new laws 
were sent to the press, 

[March, 164^.] The Ccte doth conceive it meete that John 
Wayte of Charlestowne Village, shall be alowed out of the next country 
rate, for his writing one booke of the lawes, & for finding paper for 
bothbookes, 4' i8sii\^<' 

[March, 164^.] The Co'te doth desire that M"" Rawson & M^ Hill 
compare y^ amendments of the bookes of lawes passed, & make them 
as one ; & one of them to remaine in y" hands of y^ committee for 
y^ speedy committing of them to the presse, & y" oth"" to remaine in 
y^ hands of y'^ Secretary, sealed up, till y*" next Co'te.^^ 

In the May following the new code was at the press, and it 
seems probable that the printing was completed during the 
year, although, perhaps, not until after the adjournment of the 
Court in the fall.^^ It may be remarked that the Auditor- 
General, Nathaniel Duncan, and Joseph Hills, are the only 
persons who are mentioned in connection with the work of 
printing. 

[May 13, 1648.] It is ordred, that the coppie of lawes in the two 
roles, which were by order of Court sealed vp, with intent that, if here- 
after any question should arise about the coppie now at the presse, it 
might be examined by this, wherby the faythfullnes of the committee 
might be tried, & that the other coppie, now remayning with M' Hill, 
should forthwith be sent for, for the vse of the Court. ^^ 

[May 13, 1648.] Its ordred, that the audito' gen: & M' Joseph 
Hill shall examine the lawes now at the presse, & to see if any materiall 
law be not put in or mentioned in the table as beinge of force, & to 
make suply of them.^* 

[October 27, 1648.] It is ordred by the Court, that the booke of 
lawes, now at the presse, may be sould in quires at 3*" the booke ; 

30 Mass. Colony Records, ii. 227. ber, 1648, that a price could be set upon 

i^i Ibid., 230. it ; and if it was not presented to the 

3'-2 I prefer to call the first publication Court until May, 1649, it was because 

of the Laws the MassacJmsetts Laivs of the Court did not meet between the 

16^8, although Whitmore, in his intro- close of the October session and that 

duction to the Colonial Laws of Massa- time. Johnson says, "in the year 1648 

chusetts, 1660, 79, prefers the date of they were printed." 
1649. It seems evident from the ex- ^3 j[fass. Colony Records, iii. 125. 

tracts given in the text that the book ^ Ibid., 130. 

was so far towards completion in Octo- 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 77 

pVided, that every member of this Court shall haue one without price, 
& the audito' generall, & W Joseph Hills, for which there shall be fifty 
in all taken vpp, to be so disposed of by the appoyntment of this 
Court. ^^ 

So the Lawcs and Libertyes of Massachusetts Bay,^^ the first 
printed code of enacted laws in New England, was given to the 
world, in the words of Edward Johnson, who would have been 
surprised at the claim which a later generation has made for 
him, 

To be seen of all men, to the end that none may plead ignorance, 
and that all who intend to transport themselves hither, may know this 
is no place of licentious liberty, nor will this people suffer any to 
trample down this Vineyard of the Lord.^'^ 

This book, which was printed by Stephen Daye at the press 
in Cambridge, was probably issued in an edition of six hundred 
copies. Mr. Whitmore has shown, by the traces which are left 
in the Laws of 1660, that it contained about fifty-six pages of 
text ; and other matter may have filled out the sixty-eight 
pages of the seventeen sheets which appear to have been used."^*^ 
It was carried to each town in the Colony, and was in the hands 
of all the leading men. It was carried out of Massachusetts, 
and left its impress upon the laws of at least two colonies. Yet 
it has utterly disappeared. In less than ten years no copies 
were " to be had for the supply of the Country." ^^ How long 
stray copies may have remained may not now be known ; but 

35 Mass. Colony Records, m.i^^. It is Massachusetts, 1660, 86, 95. American 

significant that Johnson, who was not a Antiq. So. Proc, April, 1888, 299, 300. 
member of the Court in that year, was ^9 Address "to our beloved Brethren 

not considered in the distribution. and Neighbors," prefixed to the Massa- 

'^ If the title of the Laws of 1648 is chusetts Laws of 1660. The laws of 
preserved in that of the edition of 1660 Massachusetts and the codes of Con- 
it was, The I Book of the General jl^wvK'i necticut and New Haven maybe com- 
AND 'Ln&'E.RTY¥.^ I concerning the Iiihab- pared in Whitmore, Colonial Laws of 
itants of the I Massachusets, collected out of Massachusetts, 1660; Trumbull, Public 
the Records of j the General Court, for Records of the Colony of Connecticut, i. 
the several years I wherin they were made 509, 563; Hoadly, Records of the Colony 
and I established. A similar title, with 0/ A''ew Haven, \\. z,-] 1,61 6- The code of 
extracts from the book itself, is pre New Haven was first printed at London, 
served in Thorowgood,_/t'7i7(?j-/«/^OT('r/V(?, in 1656; and the reader is advised that 
published in 1650. Vide N. E. Hist, and " they have made use of the Lawes pub- 
Geneal. Register, xliv. 129. lished by the Honourable Colony of the 

^' Wonder-working Providc7ice, 206. Massachusets." 

^ Introduction to Colonial Laws of 

12 



178 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

none have been found in the old collections which were being 
gathered when such copies might well have been in existence. 
For half a century antiquaries and scholars have looked in vain 
for the one copy which, if found, would be one of the most 
precious books known in American bibliography. It is worthy 
of note that, while a supplement to the laws was published in 
165 1, and others, perhaps, in 1654 and in 1657, "ot a leaf or 
scrap has been recognized as belonging to them. Nevertheless, 
the work of Joseph Hills has not wholly passed away; for as 
the code of 1672 contains the form of that of 1660, so the latter 
has preserved for us its predecessor of 1648 ; and the careful 
student, by the help of its marginal references, may reconstruct, 
in part, the pages of the earlier book. 

At the session of the General Court in May, 1649, when the 
printed code was presented as a finished work and may have 
received its final approbation, the services of Mr. Hills were 
recognized in the following vote : — 

[May II, 1649.] M' Joseph Hill is graunted, as a gratuity, tenn 
pounds, to be paid him out of the treasury, for his paines about the 
printed lavves.''" 

At the same Court, with Richard Bellingham, the Secretary, 
Increase Nowell, and Edward Rawson, Mr. Hills was appointed 
to examine and put in fitting order the public papers received 
from the late Governor, John Winthrop ;" and in the fall of the 
same year, the Court, by the following order, showed its appre- 
ciation of the printed laws and its approval of the labors of 
Joseph Hills. 

[October 18, 1649.J The Courte, finding by experience the great 
benefitt that doth redound to the country by putting of the lawes into 
printe, doe judge it very requisite that those lawes also that have past 
the consent of the Gennerall Courte since the booke of lawes were 
printed should be forthw'*^ committed to the presse, and therefore have 
appointed Richard Bellingham, Esq^ A'F Increase Nowell, M^ Nathaniell 
Duncan, Capt RoV Keajne, and M' Joseph Hill, or any three of them, 
a committee to pWse and prepare them, w'** those lawes also referred to 
in the end of the printed lawes, w*'' a suitable table, making their 
retourne to the next Courte of Election, that they may be printed.^' 

40 Mass. Colony Records, iii. 162. " Ibid., 164. *'^ Ibid., 173. 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 79 

The work thus ordered was apparently performed with care, 
and was not completed until a year had passed, when the result 
was presented to the Court and approved by its action. 

[October i8, 1650.] Itt is ordered, that Richard Bellingham, 
Esquier, the secretary, and M"' Hills, or any two of them, are appointed 
a committee to take order for the printing the lawes agreed vppon to 
be printed, to determine of all things in reference therevnto, agreeing 
with the praesident ffor the printing of them withall expedition, and to 
allow the title if there be cawse.''^ 

This book, which was printed by Samuel Green, the successor 
of Daye, at the Cambridge press, contained some laws which 
had been left out of the former code and all others to the close 
of the year 1650; and it is referred to as Liber 2 in the margins 
of the laws of 1660 and 1672. 

Joseph Hills was afterwards placed upon several committees 
for the examination of new laws; and in 1654, when the print- 
ing of a second code appears to have been contemplated, it was 
ordered : — 

[May 3, 1654.] That M' Samuel Symonds, Majo"" Denison, & M' 
Joseph Hills shall examine, compare, reconcile, & place together in 
good order all former lawes, both printed & written, & make fitt titles 
& tables for ready recourse to any p'ticuler contayned in them, & to 
p'sent the same to the next Court of Election to be considered of, that 
so order may be taken for the printing of the same in one booke, 
whereby they may be more usefull then now they are or can be.** 

In 1 66 1, the laws having been reprinted in the edition of 
1660, Joseph Hills was joined to a committee with the deputy- 
governor, Richard Bellingham, and others " to pervse such 
lawes as are vnprinted & vnrepealed, & committ them to the 
presse, so farr as they shall judge convenient." *^ 

That the services of Mr. Hills in' the preparation and codi- 
fication of the laws should have been forgotten is somewhat 
remarkable in view of the distinctness with which he appears 
in the records which I have cited. More remarkable still is it 
that, after more than two centuries had passed, another, who 
receives but a meagre mention in connection with the trans- 

*3 Mass. Colony Records, iv. (i), 35. *^ Ibid., iii. 342. ^^ Ibid., iv. (2), 5. 



l8o HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

action, should have been brought forward to claim his hardly 
earned honors. However, Joseph Hills, unconscious that he 
was writing his defence against a far-off generation, twice put 
upon record, while his story, if false or overstated, could have 
been disproved, such full and distinct statements of his labors 
that no room is left for doubt ; and those statements were ad- 
mitted by those who had an intimate knowledge of his life and 
services. The first of these was that petition which he addressed 
to the General Court in 1653. 

To the Honnor^ Court 

Jn as much as it hath pleased the Gen^all Court to engage me in 
sundry great and weighty services in refference to all the generall laws 
here established & now in print ffor publiq good, Jn Considera": whereof 
as J conceive a Gratuity of Ten pounds was Appointed me by the 
Treasu'': which as it holds forth the good acceptance of the Hono'd 
Court, J thankfully acknowledge, as duty binds me Yet App'hending 
that my Great care paynes & studies in these difficult Jmployments was 
not truly Jnformed or vnd'stood, J desire briefly to tender you an Ac- 
count thereof as ffollows : 

1. fifirst it pleased the Gen''all Court to jmploy me in a sheir Com- 
mitte to draw vpp a Body of Laws in which J tooke vnwearied payns, 
p''using all the Stat. Laws of Engl, in Pulton att Large out of which J 
took all such as J conceiued sutable to the condition of this commonw'"' 
which with such others as in my observation Experiences & Serious 
Studies J thought needful, all w'^!' J drew vpp in a Booke close written 
Consisting of 24. pages of pap' Jn folio, which uppon the Committees 
p'"usa]. viz. M' Noel. IVL Pelham AL Tho: Shepp'd & my self. J was 
Appointed to draw upp for the vse of the Gen'" Court, which Book was 
by some means lost & could not be ffound. ffor further Jmprovement by 
anoth'. committe of the gen'" court viz. m' Bellingham, m' Nat. Ward. 
&c. whereuppon m' Bellingham spake to me to help them to Anoth' 
coppie of the Afores^ Booke which jn tender Respect to publiq good, 
to the Hon"^ Court & Committee, J did fforthwith Again Transcribe out 
of my ffirst coppie although it were in haruest time. 

2. Affter that it pleased the Gen'" Court Againe to Jngage me in the 
p'using all the laws in the Books of Records to Consider, Compare, 
Compose and Transcribe all laws of publiq Conc'nment, coppie-wise all 
which J did draw vpp together, and Drew vpp in five Books or Rowls, 
which done were examined by the Committe & presented to the Gen'" 
Court : 

3. Thereuppon. J was Ordered by the Court to Transcribe the five 



1 



m 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. l8l 

Books affores'' with some other new laws, all which (save onely a few the 
Audit" did) J with Great care & vigilancie p'fformed & ffrequented 
the press & otherwise took care to Examine them during the Jm- 
printing the same. 

4. Since which it pleased the Gen'." Court to Appoint me w"'. some 
others to Compose & Transcribe the Second Booke of Laws Coppie- 
wise. which J Allso did ; which Affter Examination by the Committee 
was allso p''sented to the Gen'" Court : who were pleased ffurther to 
Jmploy another Committe ; whereof J was one, to fifitt them ffor the 
press. Jn all which Services jn reference to publiq good J putt fforth 
my selfe to the vttermost to the Great Neglect of my p'sonall & 
p'ticul' occasions Devoting my selfe there vnto ffor the most p' of Two 
years tyme (as neer as J can rememb') the benefit wherof doth J hope 
verie manifestly Redound both to court & Country who doubtless vppon 
a right vnderstanding will not be unwilling to Afford such Due 
encouragement & Recompense as services of such Jmportance & 
Advantage to the Countrie doth Require 

Your Humble Servant, 

Jos. Hills. 

The Magistrates Referr the consideration of the Petition to theire 
brethren the Deputies : 

Edward Rawson, Secre\ 

27 : may 1653 

The Deputies think meete to allow M"" Hills ten pounds out of the 
next County rate in reference to what is herein exprest if the hono''' 
magistrates please to Consent thereto 

William Torrey, Cleric. 

Consented to by the magists hereto 

Edward Rawson, Secrd ^^ 

The connection of Joseph Hills with public afifairs was not 
confined to his labors on the laws. Having been elected a 
representative of Charlestown in 1646 and 1647, he was in the 
latter year Speaker of the House of Deputies ; and upon the 
formation of the town of Maiden he became its first represen- 
tative and continued in that office until the close of the year 
1656. For some reason the town was not represented at the 
General Court from the beginning of the year 1657 "I'ltil 
December, 1660, when Joseph Hills again appeared as its 
representative and so continued until the end of 1664. In the 
following March he married, as his fourth wife, Ann, the widow 

*s Mass. Archives, xlvii. 19. Cf. Mass. Colony Records, iii. 308. 



1 82 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

of Henry Lunt of Newbury,^" and he is supposed to have re- 
moved, soon after, to the home of his wife, where he Hved until 
his death. 

He was deputy from Newbury m 1667 and 1669, after which 
he appears to have retired to private life, perhaps in view 
of the increasing infirmities which burdened his latter days. 
During all the years of his public life he is often found upon 
important committees and serving in various trusts ; and the 
records of the Colony and of the county of Middlesex show, in 
their many references, how busy was his life in the performance 
of the manifold duties which came to him. 

Besides that for the labor upon the laws, he appears to have 
had claims upon the Colony for money contributed as adven- 
turers, both by himself and Edward Mellowes, the first husband 
of his second wife. In the record of a grant of land made to 
William Parke in 1653, mention is made of "the land lately 
graunted to M"" Joseph Hills, at a place called Nanacanacus." ^^ 
Three years later this grant was confirmed, or perhaps an addi- 
tional grant was made, which was afterwards laid out in accord- 
ance with the following votes : — 

[May 22, 1656.] This Court doth graunt vnto M"" Joseph Hills 
fiue hundred acors of land neere Northwootucke, where M"" Bradstreet 
& others haue graunts ; & it is in consideration of an adventure of 
33'' 6^ 8"^, & for seu''all services to the country.'*^ 

*'' Rose, the first wife, died March 24, y^ old Booke. Hee freely acknowledged 

i6-'».^o; and Mr. Hills married, June 24, his offence therein, and his misvnder- 

1651, Hannah (Smith), the widow of standing the grounds whereon he went 

Edward Mellowes of Charlestown. His W^'' he now confesseth to be vnwarrant- 

third wife was Helen, or Eleanor, Atkin- able, And was Admonished by the 

son, daughter of Hugh Atkinson, of Court." Alidd. Coio-t Records, i. (jt,. In 

Kendall, co. Westmoreland, whom he this he had followed the example of his 

married January, 165?'^. She was living associate, Governor Bellingham, who 

January 8, 166° i, but died l^efore Novem- married himself, in 1641, to Penelope 

ber 10, 1662. With this marriage a Pelham, and escaped censure by his 

curious incident was connected, which position upon the bench as a magis- 

resulted in the censure of Mr. Hills for trate. Winthrop, History of A''ew Eng- 

breach of a law in the code which had land, ii. 43. Mr. Hills married Ann 

been prepared by himself. Lunt at Newbury, March 8, i66;t^. 

"[April I, 1656.] M'' Joseph Hills ** Mass. Colony Records, iii. 300; iv. 

of Mauldon being pi'sented by the Grand (i), 134. 

Jury for marrying of himself, contrary *"J Ibid., iii. 415. 
to the Law of this Collony page. 38 in 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 83 

[May 31, 1660.] In ans' to the petition of M' Joseph Hills, the 
Court judged meete to graunt that M"' Jonathan Danforth & Jn° or 
James Parker be impowred to lay out vnto M' Hill the fiue hundred 
acres formerly, in 1656, graunted him in any place not formerly 
graunted.^" 

Norvvottocke or Nanotuck is now Northampton ; but the 
grant was probably laid out at Dunstable, where he owned five 
hundred acres at the time of his death. Once more he appears 
upon the records of the Colony in a pathetic petition, in which 
he again recites in detail the story of his former public service. 

To the hoifed Gene fall Court holdeii at Boston 24. May, 1682 
The petition of Joseph Hills, hicmbly shewing. How it hath pleased the 
righteous God to lay vpon y petitioner, a smart hand of visitation in 
the later part of his pilgrimage totally bereaving him of the sight of 
his eyes, for more than 4 yeares now past, (besides sundry yeares dim- 
ness before) by meanes whereof he hath been utterly uncapable, of 
getting or saving any thing towards his necessary subsistence, being 
now also more than 80 yeares of age besides other infirmities of body, 
which long have, and are like to accompany him to his grave, your 
petitioner hath not been backward to his ability to be serviceable with 
his person & estate to the commonwealth : for besides other ordinary 
services, it pleased y^ court to make him one of the county committy 
to draw vp some orders necessary for y*" country, in which service J 
went ouer all y*" Statutes in Pulton at large, collected such as J deemed 
just & necessary, drew them up in a small book in folio, and trans- 
mitted them according to order to the grand committy at boston (viz) 
M' Winthrop, M' Ward & others, after this it pleased the Court to 
appoint a committy to draw vp a body of lawes for the Colony 
(viz) M' Winthrop & sundry others whereof your petitioner was one, 
to examine all y*" court records, from y"" first to that time, which for 
avoyding of far greater charge it being the worke but of one fell to 
my lot to be active in, in which J went ouer y*" 2 old bookes of 
recordes, y*" book of libertyes, & y*" great booke then & since in y'^ 
hands of AP Rawson, which lawes J brought together under theyr 
proper heades coppy-wise with exact markes of y'' severall emendations 
one way or other made therein which (after examination & approba- 
tion of y*" court) J was ordered to prepare for the presse, which J 
did, putting them together under theyr proper heads with y'^ dates 
of y^ sundry lawes in the foot thereof, in the year 1648 in an alphabet- 
ical order, with an apt table for y*= more ready recourse to each law : 

^^ Miss. Colony Records, iv. (i), 430. 



1 84 HISTORY OF MALDEN. 

for which last service it pleased the court to make me some allowance, 
which was to my Satisfaction, though short of the elaborate care, paines 
and time spent therein (these things J should not have touched upon, 
but that there are few of y" Court as now constituted that had y'^ 
opertunity to have y" cognizance thereof. The premises considered 
my petition is that J may be freed from all publick assessments to y^ 
country, County, (and secular thinges for y'' tovvne if it may be) for my 
infirme person and little estate now left, during the remaining part of 
my pilgrimage in this vale of teares. So with my dayly prayers to god 
only wise Just, & mercifuU to guide you in all your momentous con- 
cernments J crave leave to subscribe myselfe 

Your very humble servant 

Joseph Hills 

Jn answer to this petition the Mags: Judge meet that y"" petitioner bee 
freed from Country & County rates during his life, their B" the Depu- 
tyes hereto consenting. 
June: i : 82 : P. Bulkeley /'' ^n/^r 

Consented to by the Deputs. 

William Torrey Cleric.^^ 

A little longer he lingered in the darkness and the infirmities 
of age, dying at Newbury, February 5, 168^, at the age of 
eighty-five years.^^ 

In the year of the removal of Joseph Hills to Newbury the 

town was not represented at the General Court; but the next 

year, John Wayte, who had followed his father-in-law as captain 

^ of the trainband, was elected as his 

/" iJj^ t'i/t3^6T^ successor in the office of town rep- 
^-^ resentative. For an unbroken series 

of nineteen years he filled this office, an honorable service, the 
duration of which is unparalleled by that of any other represent- 
ative in the history of the town. Like his predecessor, he 
filled many places of trust and importance in the Colony, the 
county, and the town. In 1680 he was appointed upon a com- 

51 Mass. Archives, c. 2S2. 16S6. "The library of this College is 

52 The will of Joseph Hills, dated very considerable, being well furnished 
Sept. 14, 1687, Suffolk Co. Wills, X. 248, with books, and mathematical instru- 
is printed in N. E. Hist, and Geneal. ments. Sir Kenelm Digby, Sir John 
Register, viii. 309. His connection with Maynard, Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Joseph 
President Dunster points to him as the Hill, were benefactors to it." Mass. 
benefactor to the library of Harvard Hist. Coll., xii. 108. 

College mentioned by John Uunton in 



JOSEPH HILLS AND JOHN WAYTE. 1 85 

mittee to revise the laws, a duty with which his labor in 1647 
and his long experience as a legislator had doubtless made 
him familiar; and in 1683 he received the honor of a nomina- 
tion to the magistracy or Court of Assistants.^^ 

At this time the strife between the people of New England 
and the mother country, as represented by its rulers, had begun. 
On the one hand spies and informers were busy, and the 
ground was being prepared for the short and tyrannical rule 
of Andros. On the other side stood the party of liberty, at 
times with petitions to the king, at others with prayers to the 
Ruler of nations, but always with an unflinching hold upon 
their duties and their rights. Arbitrary orders were openly 
disobeyed or silently disregarded. Captain Wayte was iden- 
tified with the popular party, and his name is on the roll of 
honor in the *' Articles of high misdemeanour exhibited against 
a faction in the generall court," in which Edward Randolph 
denounced to the British government the eight magistrates and 
fifteen delegates who defended their chartered rights.^* 

In 1684 he was chosen Speaker of the House of Deputies. 
In the quaint language of a document relating to him, he soon 
after became " dark " and ended his public life when most 
honored. The petition in which he related his misfortune and 
asked relief from his military duties is elsewhere given. He 
died September 26, 1693, at the age of seventy-five years. 

53 Hutchinson, Collection of Papers, 541. ^ Ibid., 527. 



APPENDIX. 



ROSE HILLS NOT ROSE DUNSTER. 

CHAP. VI. note i, page i66. This note remains as it was written 
in 1890. The same subject was afterwards treated by William 
S. Hills, in N. E. Hist, and Geneal. Register, xlix. 146. At the time 
of going to press the uncertainty had been removed and the true name 
of the wife of Joseph Hills had been found ; but as the information 
had been obtained by the researches of others, it seemed proper that 
I should not use for my own purposes that which had been given to 
me in confidence. The matter has now been made public in a report 
of the Hills Family Genealogical and Historical Association. Joseph 
Hills and Rose Cleerke [Clarke] were married at Burstead Magna, 
Billericay, co. Essex, July 22, 1624. Here, where some of their 
children were born, they remained several years ; and in March, 163%, 
they were of the parish of All Saints, Maldon, where the births of their 
children are recorded until August, 1637. As is elsewhere stated, they 
arrived in New England, July 17, 1638. 

Researches made in England by an agent of the Hills Association 
have given information of much interest ; and it seems probable that 
the ancestry of Joseph Hills may be found to be of considerable an- 
tiquity and importance. The work of the association should commend 
itself to the attention and support of the descendants of Joseph Hills, 
of whom not a few remain in Maiden. 

The intimation in the text that John Wayte may have married Mary 
Hills in England before 1638 is now of no force, as, if the eldest 
child, she would have been about thirteen years of age at that time. 
The records of the births of their first two children, John and Joseph, 
have not been found ; but the third child, Samuel, was born in Maiden, 
October 11, 1650. We may assume that they were married about 
1644 ; and it may be that their first two children were born in England 
and that they came to IMassachusetts Bay some time previous to the 
admission of the husband to the Charlestown church, January 15, 
164^/7. ^^^ silence of the records strengthens this view. 

53 



L8 N '10 



